This Is Not a Drill
by DBZLover4Ever
Summary: In which Gohan's survival skills are pitted against the evil mastermind that is Trunks Briefs in an all out battle for the souls of his Orange Star High classmates, or at least that's what Trunks is going to tell everyone at school tomorrow. Gohan's just worried about revealing his secrets.
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Dragon Ball. Akira Toriyama does. Therefore, I am not Akira Toriyama.

* * *

 **Full Summary:** No one bothered to tell Gohan that Orange Star High's annual emergency drill would be held today. Nor did anyone happen to mention that this year's drill was designed by world-renowned genius Bulma Briefs.

In which Gohan's survival skills are pitted against the evil mastermind that is Trunks Briefs in an all out battle for the souls of his Orange Star High classmates, or at least that's what Trunks is going to tell everyone at school tomorrow. Gohan's just worried about revealing his secrets.

* * *

 **This Is Not a Drill**

Videl's watch alert broke the silence of the classroom, and a few curious heads turned in her direction.

"Videl, come in! Are you there?" the police chief's voice rang out.

If Videl was aware that she was now the center of everyone's attention, she didn't show it. "Yeah, chief," she replied nonchalantly.

"There's an armed robbery at the jewelry store down by 7th and Maple! We're being overrun, and we need support!"

"Be there in five," Videl said and ended the transmission. She ran out of the classroom without acknowledging the teacher who, after looking up during the police chief's initial interruption, had focused her attention back on the reading she assigned the class.

Gohan, sitting a couple seats away from Videl, tapped his fingers on the desk impatiently. Looking over his shoulder at the clock, he realized there were only five minutes left of class before he could leave and pursue the other crime-fighting teen. But those five minutes were crucial; in that time he was likely to lose her ki signal and wouldn't be able to find where the armed robbery was even located. Living hundreds of miles from Satan City meant he was never going to be familiar with street names.

Standing abruptly, he tried to think of a plausible excuse that would get him out of class in time. Curious eyes looked up as he stood only to lose interest when his classmates realized it was Gohan trying to leave class for the umpteenth time.

"Ms. Apple, I think Erasa doesn't feel well. Can I take her to the nurse's office?" Gohan gestured to his right at Erasa who was one of the few people who hadn't broken her focus from the reading.

"Is that so?" The teacher replied, her gaze shifting to the blonde. After a few moments of silence, Erasa finally looked up.

"What are you talking a-" Erasa started. Watching the shifting expression on Gohan's face she continued, "-Oh, wait. He's right. Ugh." She put an arm on her stomach and shifted her posture so she was hunched over. "There's- uh, there's something wrong with me, and I don't think I can go to the nurse's by myself."

Ms. Apple stared at the two of them for a couple seconds before relenting. "Fine. You may escort her, Gohan."

Gohan cheered silently and offered Erasa his arm. He helped her out of her desk and walked out of the classroom without sparing anyone else a glance. Over her shoulder, Erasa sent Sharpener a wink.

They turned the corner of the hallway and Gohan dropped his arm from Erasa's shoulder. "Thank you!" He exclaimed, ready to run off and catch Videl.

"No problem! Now you can go find Videl!"

Gohan froze at her words. "What?"

Erasa continued upon seeing his expression, "Please, Gohan! I know you have a cute little crush on her! Anyone that follows her around this much has got to be pretty smitten."

"Heh. Heh. Yeah," Gohan said, uncertain. "You caught me! Darn! I'm so obvious. So, -uh bye then!" He sped off before Erasa could say anything else that could throw him off, leaving a bunch of lockers rattling in his wake.

As badly as that interaction went, Gohan figured it could have gone worse. At least Erasa thought his convenient classroom exoduses were due to a crush and not his Bulma-diagnosed hero-complex. Making his way up to the roof, he changed into his Saiyaman outfit and sought out Videl's ki signature.

While he was focused on pursuing Videl, Gohan was so distracted that he missed a PA announcement that would prove very enlightening for him in the near future.

"Good afternoon students, this is Principal Berry," a voice said over the speaker system. "As many of you may already know, tomorrow we are going to hold our annual emergency drill. What you may not have heard is that this year, Capsule Corp's own Bulma Briefs will conduct our test. She has recently written a program that will serve as this year's 'evil overlord' who will attempt to take over the world starting with Orange Star High. Be ready for an exciting day of problem-solving and structured fun!"

Erasa smiled to herself. She remembered last year's emergency drill had been a breeze, because she'd stuck with Videl and they'd gone after the mastermind with Sharpener in tow and ended the drill early. This one probably wouldn't be as simple, because an actual genius was running it, but it was guaranteed to get them out of boring classes for a day.

Maybe Gohan would want to join them, seeing as he never strayed more than 5 feet away from Videl? She wondered what Gohan would look like in action, and hoped he didn't chicken out in the face of danger.

—

"Oh crap," Bulma muttered to herself, staring at the computer screen in her laboratory.

Trunks, who had been playing behind her, followed her gaze. "What's up, mom?" Written in red were the words Orange Star High School Emergency Drill. Recognizing the name, Trunks asked, "Isn't that the school Gohan goes to?"

"Yes, Trunks," Bulma replied, placing a hand on her forehead in frustration. "I only agreed to run this because I knew he went there. I was supposed to write a computer program that would simulate, in their words, 'an evil overlord taking over Satan City.' It sounded kind of ridiculous until I thought about how Piccolo, Cell and even your father all intended to do just that at one point."

"Dad was an evil overlord?" Trunks said in awe. "Coooool!"

"No. Not cool, Trunks," Bulma scolded. "And anyway, I forgot to write the program and I have an important meeting that I can't miss tomorrow, so I can't even go and run it myself. I may have to cancel on them."

Sensing an opportunity, Trunks started thinking. "Mom, I have a great idea!" He proclaimed. "What if me and Goten ran your emergency drill? I mean I'm pretty smart and since you said dad was a super villain in his time, I definitely have some of that in me! We can definitely do it! Please?"

Bulma looked at him blankly for a couple seconds. "That is a bad idea for so many reasons, including the fact that having a villain mastermind for a father is nothing to be proud of. I can't believe I'm actually considering this, but that's just how desperate I am right now." Trunks went down to his knees and repeated his desperate plea.

"Fine. Here's my offer. If you can convince your father to supervise, you two may run the drill. I'm going to provide a list of instructions that you must follow to the letter, but apart from that you can improvise."

Trunks jumped up in excitement, running out the door. Over his shoulder, he yelled, "Yay! Thank you! I'll get Dad now!"

"Good luck!" She called after him. Once he was out of sight, she muttered, "I almost want Vegeta to turn him down, because this could only end in disaster."

—

"Saiyaman!" Videl walked over to the costumed hero as he was about to make his escape. The robbers had long been apprehended and taken into police custody.

"Uh . . . Ms. Videl! What might you want?"

"I don't know why you feel the need to follow me while I'm on the job when there are other perfectly good criminals to put behind bars. Did you happen to see the car hijacking that occurred on the other side of town on your way here?" Videl said.

Gohan felt a little blindsided by the accusation and made a mental note to check that hijacking on his way out. "Um, ma'am I only came here, because- it was on my way to the hijacking! I saw that you could benefit from some assistance, so I intervened. Obviously you have proven that you are more than capable of stopping these robbers by yourself, but I think everyone could use help once in a while."

Videl frowned slightly at his words. "Well, don't make it a habit. Since it seems like you're going to be a permanent fixture in Satan City, as annoying as it is to say; you could probably be more useful elsewhere."

"Oh," Gohan said, a little shocked and hurt ny her words. "Uh, I guess that makes sense." He couldn't help but think he was being told to buzz off. He had thought that Saiyaman and Videl had come to some sort of understanding in their past couple of crime-fighting adventures where they had tag-teamed more than once. At least Videl's initial animosity had simmered down to something that resembled mild resentment.

"But don't think I'm ever going to give up on finding your true identity! I'm onto you Saiyaman!" Gohan's mouth twisted up in a small smile. That was more like it.

"I would expect nothing less."

—

"Dad!" Trunks yelled down the hall from the training room. A moment later, he was inside the room barreling into his father in the high intensity gravity.

Vegeta, given a second of warning by Trunks' first call, stopped his punch halfway from connecting with Trunks' face. "What is it, brat?" He asked after extracting Trunks from his body, and continued to battle imaginary opponents.

"Mom-promised-to-run-an-emergency-drill-thing-at-Gohan's-high-school-but-she's-busy-so-she-can't-but-she-said-that-you-were-an-evil-mastermind-in-the-past-and-since-you're-my-dad-I-think-I-could-do-it-too!" Trunks took a deep breath, anxious energy radiating. "She said I could only do it if you promised to come. So will you? Please?"

"No," Vegeta stated plainly, refusing to pause his training. "It sounds like a waste of my time. And yours, boy. You could use that time to train. Do you want to become like Kakarot's brat and grow soft?" He punctuated the accusation with a controlled combo that ended with him standing over Trunks.

"No!" Trunks replied without wavering. "But you and mom talk about training my mind too! I'd be plotting against Gohan! And Goten would be there too!"

"All the more reason to avoid that school like the plague." Feeling satisfied, Vegeta continued with another well-rehearsed kata.

"But Daaaad!" Trunks exclaimed, crushed that his father was standing in the way of, what he knew was going to be the greatest day ever.

"Complain anymore and you will be banned from the training room until the end of time," Vegeta warned, shutting Trunks up immediately. "As enjoyable as it would be to watch Kakarot's son be brought down by my ilk and his own incompetence, I have better things to do."

Disappointed but not fully deterred, Trunks shuffled out of the training room. He spared a glance over his shoulder, but his father had already resumed his training. With a frown, he went to go find his mother to try to convince her that he and Goten could run the emergency drill without anyone's supervision.

He was about halfway through his explanation that he and Goten, at the ages of eight and seven, were more than capable of maneuvering millions of zeni's worth of machinery in Orange Star High's emergency drill (maybe not in those exact words, but he thinks he was getting his point apart), before he was rudely interrupted by a strange man who looked exactly like Trunks that walked into the lab.

"Um, excuse me. Mom?" The man said, referring to Trunks' mother.

"Trunks!" his mother exclaimed, running over and enveloping the stranger in a bone-crushing hug. Trunks stared at the intruder distrustfully, thoughts spiraling. Of course his mother and the others had told him about the mysterious future version of him that had travelled to the past to warn them of the androids, but he never expected to see the guy in person. Although his mother had mostly filled him in on the story-telling aspects, Vegeta had effectively turned his future counterpart into a yet another reason why Trunks couldn't afford to slack off in his training. You never knew when evil androids would come and leave you as the sole hope for humanity.

"What are you doing here?" his mother asked once she had released the Trunks imposter.

The other Trunks looked a little sheepish as he replied, "Just visiting, I guess. You know, most of my friends were killed years ago, and even though the androids are finally gone, life in the future is pretty bleak. I wanted to surprise you guys!"

"Well, we are definitely surprised. I can't wait till Vegeta sees you." Remembering her previous conversation, she sought out the present version of her son and introduced him. "Trunks, this is Trunks. Yeah, that's going to get confusing real fast."

"Oh! Well, don't change anything on my account. Just call me Mirai," the older saiyan hybrid replied. "And it's nice to meet you Trunks." He stuck out a hand to his younger counterpart.

Trunks crossed his arms on his chest and frowned. He eyed his future version carefully and, upon quick evaluation, decided he didn't merit all the praise everyone showered on him. Trunks shook his offered hand anyway.

Midway through the handshake an idea popped into Trunks' head that would salvage his prospects of running the emergency drill after all.

"Mom!" he yelled, "Since Dad said no, can Mirai come and supervise me and Goten while we run the emergency thing?"

Mirai frowned in confusion. "What thing?"

Bulma sighed in reply. "I can't exactly say no. I was almost ready to send you two off by yourselves, but this is a little better." At Mirai's confused expression, she explained, "I'm supposed to run Orange Star High school's annual emergency drill tomorrow, but I have a meeting that I can't skip. Trunks offered to help, but since he's eight I'm not very inclined to send him off by himself. Gohan also goes to this high school, which is why I agreed in the first place. The key is to make it realistic enough that it can sufficiently test the student's ingenuity along with the school's emergency protocols."

"Wait, what? An emergency drill? And Gohan's enrolled in high school?"

At his future counterpart's confusion, Trunks added, "Goten and I would be so good at this! And we'd be completely unpredictable! But, Mirai, you can't tell Gohan you're here."

Mirai looked back and forth between his exasperated mother and the pleading eyes of his younger self. After a few seconds he sighed. "Sure, why not? It'll be fun to see what Gohan's like in a non-life-threatening environment, or at least a semi non-life-threatening environment. I'd rather not be directly involved, but I suppose I can supervise."

"Yes!" Trunks celebrated. Who cared what everyone else said, Trunks was beginning to like this guy.

"But before we get any further, who exactly is Goten?"

On second thought, maybe not.

—

Gohan awoke that morning with a sinking feeling in his stomach that just wasn't going away. It was probably someone's way of telling him that today was not going to be a good day.

His encounter with Videl the previous afternoon had left him a little conflicted. He had to acknowledge that she was right, as Satan City's two main crime fighters, they would get more done if they didn't focus on the same crimes.

On the other hand, half the reason why Gohan decided to become the Great Saiyaman in the first place was so he could make sure Videl didn't get into any fights that she wouldn't be able to finish. But she had proven more than capable at her job, and he probably would be able to feel her ki if she got into a problem that was too much for her to handle.

At the sound of his mother's call for breakfast, he rolled out of bed and got dressed. These were thoughts for another time.

When he finally made it to the kitchen table, he was surprised to see Goten with an empty breakfast plate looking at him expectantly.

"Your brother is visiting Capsule Corp. today, can you take him?" Chi-Chi asked.

"Uh, sure," he replied, digging into his breakfast. "Is there a special occasion or-?"

"Me and Trunks are going to work on a project!" Goten stated excitedly. "He said it's top secret so he hasn't even told me about it yet!"

"Bulma called earlier," Chi-Chi explained. "She said that Trunks wanted Goten to work with him on something."

Whatever that meant, it couldn't be anything good. Gohan made a mental reminder to check with Bulma for what this 'top-secret' project might be. Glancing at his watch, he realized he was going to be extremely late if he had to go to West City and then to school. He gulped down the remainder of his food as quickly as possible, grabbed Goten and his bag and ran out the door.

"Bye Mom!" he called.

"Have a good day sweetie!"

Once outside, Gohan set Goten down and changed into his Saiyaman outfit. "Goten, I'm going to be late to school if I don't go as fast as possible, so hold onto me. Okay?"

"'Kay, Gohan. But what about Nimbus? Won't he get sad if I don't ride him?"

"Nimbus won't get sad, Goten!" Gohan replied. "But even if he does, I promise you can ride Nimbus back home if you want to." Goten opened his mouth to reply, but Gohan grabbed his arm and took off. "No time, I gotta' go!"

When he arrived at Capsule Corp., he could sense something was off, but he didn't know what. He didn't have much time to explore, but he didn't want to leave Goten until he knew everything was okay. He ran into Bulma and Trunks in their kitchen, but their initial shocked expressions didn't make him feel any better.

"Hey, Bulma," he said with an inquisitive tone. "I'm just dropping off Goten, but is anything going on? Like something out of the ordinary?" Trunks ducked his head, but Bulma looked unfazed.

"I don't know how ordinary daily life is here, but I wouldn't say anything too crazy is happening," Bulma said shrugging. Gohan couldn't say he felt reassured. "We did get a visitor earlier that probably wants to see you."

"Mom! I thought we said we weren't gonna' tell him!" Trunks hissed.

His complaint was pointless three seconds later when Trunks from the future walked in the kitchen.

"Hey Gohan!" Mirai said. Trunks slapped his hand to his forehead.

"Trunks! No way!" Gohan exclaimed. "It's great to see you! I just realized its weird to ask where you came from. When you came from? Really hoping you're not bringing another warning of an android apocalypse."

Trunks chuckled slightly and replied, "Ha! No. Just here for a visit. There's not a lot going on in the future other than rebuilding, and everyone treats me like a weird hero-messiah figure. It's a little tough some-"

"Hey! Gohan!" Goten said, interrupting the reunion. "Who's this guy and why does he look like Trunks?"

"Goten, do you remember the stories of the man who came from the future and saved the world by telling us about the androids? Well that was this guy. He's Trunks, from the future."

"Well, I'm going by Mirai right now," The older purple-haired saiyan added. Stooping to meet Goten at eye level, he continued, "You must be Goten. I've heard a lot about you! Wow, you're the spitting image of Goku."

Under Mirai's scrutiny, Goten fidgeted a little. "Uh . . . thanks Mister Mirai," he replied.

Gohan looked at his watch and grimaced. "Mirai, I hope you're here for longer than today, because I have to go to school right now or I'm going to be late."

"I don't know, Mirai, Gohan's been pretty busy lately with one or two extracurricular activities." Bulma wiggled her eyebrows and smiled at Gohan as his face reddened.

Mirai laughed. "Wow. Gohan in high school. Now that's hard for me to picture. And don't worry about me, I'll be here till the end of the week. We'll catch up later. Remind me to ask you about the weird green getup. And, you owe me a spar eventually, I want to know if I can actually beat you this time."

"Yeah, you wish!" Gohan taunted, a smile growing on his face. Even though he hadn't trained in a while, the thought of a fight with Mirai excited his Saiyan blood. He turned and ran out the room, spotting Vegeta lurking in the corner outside the kitchen.

—

Gohan barely arrived on time to class and slid into his customary seat next to Erasa, who seemed a little more peppy than usual. Even though the clock had struck 8, their teacher hadn't arrived to their homeroom yet.

"Are you excited, Gohan?" Erasa asked, with barely contained energy. She was practically vibrating in her seat, and Gohan looked around the room and saw the other students looking a little more alive than usual. The only person who didn't look any more interested was Videl who was still wearing the serious and slightly bored expression that Gohan had learned was her default.

"To learn?" Gohan asked. "Sure?"

"No, Gohan! Don't you remember the announcement? Today's –" Erasa began.

"Students of Orange Star High!" A badly distorted voice cut in from the PA system, "I am the Galaxy conqueror known as Tundra, and I have decided to lead my army of robots to conquer Earth starting in the city of Earth's greatest savior, Mr. Satan! I have stationed my army throughout your school and once I conquer it, the city will be next! Then the world!" The broadcast ended with some poorly executed evil laughter.

Gohan rolled his eyes. What kind of medication was their principal on such that making up evil galaxy conquerors was now a thing?

Gohan's thoughts were interrupted when the doors to his classroom slammed open and two menacing-looking robot androids marched in. A couple students screamed, but most people either calmly hid under their desks and a few brake students sprung up after the robots and attempted to subdue them. Gohan just stared blankly ahead of him, not quite believing what he was seeing.

"What the–?" Gohan said as he watched Videl pick up a chair and throw it at the robots. A variety of thoughts ran through Gohan's head as he tried to process what was happening. It was extremely unlikely that an actual galaxy conqueror was in the process of staging an invasion, but stranger things had happened. At the moment, however, someone was attempting to take over his school, and he should probably do something about it.

"Gohan! Duck!" Erasa yelled, and broke through Gohan's parade of thoughts. Moving faster than he should have, Gohan dropped beneath his desk and rolled to the side as a robot head soared through the air and hit the chair he was sitting on. In the front of the classroom, Videl stood over the two droids while the class stared in awe.

"Erasa," she started, "let's go." Erasa got out from the desk next to Gohan and followed her friend.

"Videl, can we take Gohan? You just saw him; he freezes up in these situations and we can't just leave him here!"

Videl stared at Gohan till he blinked and looked away. She rolled her eyes at his lack of backbone and said, "Fine. But don't get in my way."

Gohan got up out his seat slightly reluctantly. What he wanted to do was sneak out and investigate the "invasion" as Saiyaman. To do that, he would need to be as far away from Videl as possible, but turning down Erasa's offer would look a little suspicious. No place on campus would have been safer during an invasion than by the side of the strongest student in the school. Too bad Erasa didn't realize which one of them that was.

Once the three teenagers were out in the hallway, Gohan hung back before turning a different corner and running to an empty classroom where no one would see him. While he was focusing on closing the blinds, the arm of a robot nailed him on his temple, knocking him away from the windows and onto his stomach. He crashed into a few desks and laid on the ground trying to comprehend how this was his life.

The worst part about this situation was that the robots could sneak up on him, because they had no ki. His best bet was going to be changing into Saiyaman and tackle the problem head on. Before he could get up and change into his Saiyaman clothes, however, the droid shoved head back into the ground and stepped on his wrist. The same wrist that he wore his Saiyaman watch.

Suddenly aware of the consequences of letting down his guard, Gohan scrambled up and inspected the several pieces his watch was now in. The robot paused in its attack as if it was laughing at the expression of pure devastation on his face. Gohan turned towards robot, head down and hair shielding his face. "Wrong move," he said before ripping the robot in half with a vicious kick.

Newly resolved to defeat the menace that had come for him personally, Gohan marched out of the empty classroom into a hallway that looked like a war zone. Lockers were hanging off hinges, trash and robot parts were strewn haphazardly, and students showcasing different levels of panic and terror were running in every direction. Torn between going after the mastermind and trying to maintain his "normal" identity, he stood in front of the door for a couple of seconds, looking down both ends of the hallway.

"Hey Gohan! We thought we'd lost you!" Erasa called from his left. When Gohan turned to respond, he saw her and Videl approaching. Videl looked like some warrior princess ripped straight out of his fantasies and nightmares with sweat and dirt smudged on her face, robot limbs and pieces behind her.

"Uh, yeah. I was just -uh checking if anyone needed help in this classroom!" Gohan said gesturing to the room he just exited.

"And did they?" Videl asked before peeking around Gohan through the window in the door.

"Uh, no!" Gohan said nervously. Videl furrowed her brow and pushedd Gohan out of the way to get inside.

"Did you see this Gohan?" She said gesturing to the robot torn cleanly in two on the ground. "Someone ripped this robot in half, and it looks like it was with a blunt object. These things have fairly weak joints are, but the metal plating on these things is reinforced; I definitely couldn't do this with my bare hands. Did someone bring weapons?"

Gohan's blood went cold as his tried to think of a response, "I, -uh I just saw it here, when I came in."

"Weird." Videl said at the same time as Erasa guessed, "Maybe another robot did that?" Videl frowned and left the room without agreeing. Gohan and Erasa followed wordlessly behind.

Gohan's mind went through some scenarios as he walked behind Videl. On one hand, he wanted to defeat this Tundra guy for the amount of stress he had added to the day. On the other hand, he really wanted a normal life and that couldn't happen if he decided to go all "invincible martial-artist" on this Tundra threat. But the school and the world (which Gohan wasn't completely sold on, yet) could actually be in trouble if he didn't give this fight his all. He had already paid the price of lowering his guard in this situation. What if that robot had been trying to kill him? What if it had been doing that to other students?

"So what's your plan?" Gohan asked as they walked through the empty hallway.

"Videl's heading for the principal's office. That's where the PA system is, we can either figure out who is in charge or we can find clues about how to shut the robot army down," Erasa replied.

"You seem pretty cheery for someone who's in the middle of a robot invasion," Gohan noted.

"Yeah well, this kind of thing only happens about once a year, so it's nice to do something exciting. Videl always does really well and saves the day, but I think the robots are smarter this time."

"Wait what?" Gohan stopped walking, the meaning of her words registering slowly.

"Yeah! I always look forward to this drill, because it's so applicable," Erasa continued. "I mean, look at Cell and did you hear about that Piccolo guy from before we were born? Survival skills are important."

Before Gohan could respond, Videl grabbed them both and pulled them behind a corner. "There are four robots coming this way. I'm going to engage them and if you guys want to run ahead, I'll catch up."

Erasa enthusiastically agreed with the plan. But Gohan, reluctant to leave Videl to fend off four robots by herself but also not wanting to show he could fight, nodded his head slightly. He resolved to help Erasa get clear and then come back and help Videl by "accidentally" taking out a couple robots of his own.

Videl left them in the corner and stared the robots down. She attacked one and a couple seconds later, when she was back in their line of view, she gestured for them to go. Gohan grabbed Erasa's hand and led her past the robots.

Once they were clear, Gohan let go of Erasa right before turning around and coming face to face with another droid he hadn't seen before. Tossing a glance over his shoulder at his friend, Gohan moved faster than Erasa could see and delivered two kicks. The two thuds of his foot connecting with the robot's body resonated down the hall, the sounds so close together that it seemed like one attack. Less than a second later, the robot tumbled over backwards while Erasa looked on in shock.

"I guess that one was faulty! Heh." Gohan said, while putting an arm behind his head. Erasa looked a little confused, but Gohan ran after Videl before she could say anything.

It turned out that he needn't have worried. By the time Gohan was close enough to help, Videl was polishing off the fourth robot and the other three were lying in a heap behind her.

"I thought I told you," Videl punctuated her words by hitting the robot over the head with both her arms clasped together. "To stay over there with Erasa while I handle this." When the robot hit the ground, she marched up to Gohan and poked him in the chest.

"Oh just get a room already," Erasa said, walking over.

Not wanting to rise to her bait, Videl smiled. "So Gohan can go pee his pants somewhere private?"

"Ha ha, Videl." He backed away from her and stopped; something was nagging at the back of his mind.

"Erasa, what was that thing you were talking about before? What's going on with this invasion?"

"Oh come on, Gohan," Videl said before Erasa could respond. "Tell me you didn't think what was happening today was real."

"Ha! -uh no," Gohan said unconvincingly.

Erasa added, "Oh poor Gohan! It's Orange Star High's annual emergency drill. We shut down school for the day and go through emergency protocol about what we would do if someone tried conquering Earth by attacking Satan City and the school!"

"But that-, That doesn't even make sense!" Gohan replied incredulously. "Why would everyone try to fend for themselves in this kind of situation? And who in their right mind would launch an invasion by starting at Orange Star High?"

"Yeah, well usually this is boring and simple, but at least this year the robots are a lot more advanced than they have been in the past. I'm pretty glad we got Capsule Corp to run the drill," Videl said.

Gohan's jaw dropped. "Wait, excuse me. Did you say Capsule Corporation was running this?"

"Yeah!" Erasa replied. "Apparently Bulma Briefs herself built all the equipment and is running the drill."

Gohan put an arm on the closest wall to ground himself and took a couple deep breaths. He wasn't sure whether the spike of intense, almost-blinding anger that rose within him was directed outward at the people who caused this torture or inward at himself for not seeing this coming.

Once he got his emotions under control, he looked up to see Videl and Erasa staring at him and speaking quietly. "I'm um, gonna' make a quick call," gesturing over his shoulder to one of the emergency phones in the hallway. They waved him off and continued to stare. He figured he should be more worried about that than he was, but he had bigger problems.

Remembering Bulma's number wasn't very difficult and the phone rang twice before she answered, "Look this better be important, I have a meeting to go to in five minutes."

"Hey Bulma, it's Gohan. Quick question: do you want to ruin my life?" he hissed into the phone. "Is the whole 'Gohan's going-to-high-school' idea so funny to you that you just have to make sure it doesn't last?"

"Oh hey Gohan. Good morning to you too," she snarked. "If you're done tossing accusations in my direction, I'd like you to know that I do have a very important meeting in five minutes that is taking place in West City which is pretty much on the other side of the globe from where you are standing! Contrary to popular belief, I do have a very important job as head of a company that has a worldwide presence. I don't spend all my time bumming around like most Saiyans! And believe me, your life is not interesting enough that I would spend even a fraction of mine trying to ruin it!"

Bulma's words caught Gohan off-guard, and his anger slowly drained out, replaced with guilt. In a small voice, he asked, "How do I know you're telling the truth?"

Bulma sighed audibly. "Fine, Gohan. If you must know, your school did ask me to run the emergency drill. I was supposed to program software so I didn't have to be on site. However, that didn't happen, and I chose someone else to run the drill with my equipment."

"So you were involved?" Gohan asked, rage still simmering below the surface.

"I don't have time for this Gohan," Bulma replied, exasperated. "Just know you're not in any real danger. You are more than equipped to handle whatever gets thrown at you. Now I have to leave–"

"No don't go!" Gohan pleaded. "I have so many questions!"

"Bye Gohan." Gohan dropped the phone when he heard her voice cut out. The small home he had created in Satan City was crumbling around him, and Bulma didn't seem to care. He felt utterly betrayed by one of his closest friends.

He turned around slowly and saw Videl and Erasa looking at him with clear concern written on their faces. The conversation with Bulma played over and over in his head.

"Everything okay, Gohan?" Erasa asked.

Gohan took a deep breath and steeled his expression. "Yeah. I'm fine."

"You sure?" Videl replied. "You looked pretty upset while you were yelling into the phone, and I don't want anyone who's going to drag my team down. Especially if it's emotional baggage. Either get your head together or leave; If you're going to back out, you better do it now."

Gohan looked between the two girls and grappled with his options. He could do as Videl suggested and excuse himself from the drill. Or he could try to get to the bottom of it and figure out who really was in charge. In the back of his mind, he couldn't help but wonder what Bulma meant when she had said "You aren't in any danger." Was she referring to the fact that Gohan could take care of himself, and this drill could be dangerous to others? Or was it truly harmless for everyone involved? The one thing he did know was that the robots packed a wallop.

How irresponsible would it be to turn his back on the whole thing?

Gohan didn't have the time to fully contemplate the pros and cons of his choices, because a group of robots emerged from the end of the hallway at that moment. Videl stepped in front of them, and Gohan hoped she would see their number and suggest they turn around and head back where they came from. Videl's confident expression faded a little as the robots marched toward them, their numbers seemingly endless. She grimaced and turned, grabbing both Erasa and Gohan to indicate they keep up with her.

The trio ran down the school hallway with the robots pursuing behind them at the same marching pace as before.

* * *

 **A/N:** Well I have had this story on my computer for years, and in the last few weeks finally felt inspired to finish it. There's one more chapter that will probably be published sometime later this week. Hope you enjoy, and please let me know how you like it! I've really missed the Dragonball fandom.


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER:** DBZ is all still owned by Akira Toriyama and not me.

* * *

This Is Not a Drill

Videl stopped when they encountered an empty hallway, practically on the other side of the school. Gohan made a show of being out of breath, placing his hands on his knees and slouching forward as the other two used the wall as support.

Videl recovered first, standing up and pounding a fist against the wall. "I'm tired of running around, let's change this up and go after the person at the top."

Gohan tried to school his expression to reflect apprehension, but inside he was relieved. He was never going to be able to keep this charade up, and the longer this day went on the more he would he would be required to act the part of a scared high school student.

"We're actually pretty close to Principal Berry's office," Erasa said. "I wonder why it's so quiet over here though."

Gohan watched Videl peek her head around the corner. She gestured with an arm for Gohan and Erasa to follow her and continued stealthily towards the principal's office. They followed in silence a few steps behind her going through empty hallways and stairwells. The further they went, the more wary the teenagers became.

"How likely is it that the principal's office is completely unguarded, and we can end the drill without having to fight again?"

"I don't have time to answer dumb questions, Gohan," Videl replied with an eye roll. Suddenly, she raised a hand up, indicating to Gohan and Erasa that they should move slowly. Once Videl got their attention, she crouched along the wall and turned into the hallway that connected to the principal's office.

Erasa was the first to follow her around the corner. "You do have to admit, Videl, it's weird that we haven't run into—Eep."

Sensing something was wrong, Gohan followed his two friends into the hall. As Gohan turned the corner, he almost ran head-first into Erasa and Videl who were both standing frozen staring down a veritable army of robots stood crowding practically every inch of space between them and Principal Berry's office. There were a few other students on either end of the hallway, none of them brave enough to take on the robots and somehow make it to the office.

Videl was the first to recover, cracking her knuckles and loosening her muscles. She smirked to herself. "Finally, a challenge."

Gohan _really_ didn't like the sound of that. "Um, Videl? Maybe we should come up with a strategy?"

Videl tossed him an unimpressed look over her shoulder. "My strategy is I go through them. After all, the shortest path between any two points is a line." With a shout, Videl launched herself at the first robot.

Gohan wished he was the type of person who could just sit back and admire Videl as she took out the robots one by one, but he remembered how difficult it was to deal with just one robot and didn't want to take any chances with Videl's safety. Hell, he figured that if he had to clear this hallway by himself _even he_ might have a little trouble.

"Erasa, stay here. I'm gonna- I'm gonna' go help her." Turning away from Erasa, he winced as he thought about the task at hand.

Before he could follow Videl, however, Erasa grabbed his arm. "Gohan, I know you're trying to be noble, but you have about as much of a chance out there as me." Erasa glanced over to where Videl was grappling with one robot.

Gohan looked at Erasa and saw the concern plainly written on her face. His expression softened and he he gave her a soft half-smile. "It'll be fine Erasa, my friends tell me I inherited my hard head from my Dad. I know how to take a hit or two. I'm just going to back Videl up, in case she needs it." After staring at Gohan for a second longer and looking back at Videl who was now holding a detached robot leg and brandishing it like a staff, Erasa reluctantly let go of his arm.

Gohan stepped in front of her and stared down at the carnage in the hallway. Most of the robots were preoccupied with Videl, and he figured it would be simple enough to rush past them and into the principal's office. But there was no way he could leave Videl fighting on her own.

In the time he and Erasa had been talking, Videl had taken out at least five robots, but it seemed they were now all converging on her.

Gohan grimaced, unsure how to approach the fight ahead of him. Before he settled on a course of action, however, a few robots started approaching him and Erasa.

"Here goes nothing," he said under his breath. Motioning for Erasa to give him room, he took a deep breath and gave a quick glance around at the other students in the hallway who were all, luckily, focused on Videl.

The leading robot was close enough to swing an arm in his direction, and Gohan expertly ducked under it.

"Wow! Great dodge, Gohan!" A voice called from behind him.

Well, every classmate but _one_ was focused on Videl.

"Heh, Erasa, it was just luck," he replied sheepishly. In the corner of his eye he noticed another robot preparing to swing an appendage at him. Based on the direction the arm was coming from, Gohan figured the hit would take him closer to the principal's office. So, he decided to let it land.

"Gohan, look out!"

He hit the ground with more force than expected. The good news was that his momentum carried him further along the ground, but he suspected that also had to do with the fact that the janitors waxed this hallway twice as much as the other ones in the school. He'd only need to take a few more good hits before he was literally thrown into the principal's door. The bad news, Gohan realized as he stood up, was that he was now surrounded.

As fun as it would be to get pummeled on his way to the principal's office, he figured he could mix it up a little bit. If only to make Erasa less worried about his well-being. As another robot raised it's arm to attack, Gohan made a big show of tripping, his body ducking below the arm and turned his momentum into a roll that brought down the three closest robots.

As he pulled himself up, he knocked his head into another robot that was looming over him. Attempting to stay in character he winced and rubbed the back of his head to indicate that he was in pain. "Ow."

Tossing a quick glance at the student bystanders, he realized almost everyone was now looking in his direction rather than Videl's. Great, that was _not_ how things were supposed to go.

He was fairly certain if he stood still for long enough, he would leave himself open for another hit; as another robot approached, albeit more cautiously than others had before, his suspicions were confirmed. In preparation, Gohan shifted his balance so the robot would come at him from a certain side.

He judged the direction almost perfectly. Once Gohan stopped sliding along the ground after his second hit, he was practically in line with the door. What he didn't expect was-

"Videl?!"

"You could thank me for catching you. You know, you're pretty heavy," She said as she helped him back onto his feet.

"Uh, thanks?" Thinking the conversation was over, Gohan looked around at the rest of the robots. They were a couple arm's lengths away, lining up in front of the principal's office in an act reminiscent of a last-stand. It was clear they were pretty hesitant of approaching Videl and gave her a wider berth, but it looked like they hadn't quite decided whether to fear him or not.

Gohan could feel Videl's gaze was still leveled on him, however. "Something wrong?"

"Gohan," she said in that tone that meant she knew he wasn't telling the truth about something, the same tone that was her default when dealing with The Great Saiyaman. "You know you just took out four of those things."

"What- No, I mean, I just tripped. What are you-? And anyway, shouldn't you be more focused on the robots that are still _actively trying to attack us_?"

"Yeah sure, you _tripped_ ," Videl echoed disbelievingly and then refocused on the robots in front of them. "These things will only react if we move on the principal's office. They've been taught better than to seek out a fight with me, " she said with a smirk. "They're not too bad one on one, but when they gang up on you it's a lot tougher. They definitely don't want us to get through that door, though."

Relieved that Videl had stopped staring at him, Gohan took a deep breath. "Any ideas?"

"Nothing other than my original strategy. Why don't you just put those book smarts of yours to work, huh? Bring something other than a punchable face to the table."

Gohan opened his mouth to retort, but the leftover robots decided to take their chances and go after him. While he was deciding how to handle the incoming attack, Videl shoved him, _hard._ The movement was so unexpected that he stumbled a couple steps behind her, which was the opening she needed to intercept the attack aimed at him and immediately land a counter.

"Seriously, Gohan, stay out of this. You're only going to get hurt." She gave him a quick once-over. " -Er more hurt."

Without waiting for an answer, Videl started her own advance, leaving Gohan frustrated and alone in a sea of robots.

Gohan hadn't felt so helpless in a long time; he felt like any choice he could possibly make next was going to be the wrong one. "Should have just stayed home this morning," he muttered resignedly.

He stood up straight and flexed his fingers, refusing to look at Videl as she busied herself with the robots that stood between her and her goal. The robots not currently occupied by her turned in his direction.

What followed was a masterclass in footwork as Gohan focused all his energy on coordinating slips, trips, and falls to maneuver himself behind all of the robots. It was much more difficult than before due to the sheer numbers that had chosen to line themselves up side by side barring his way.

An onlooker might have wondered about the sheer number of coincidences required, but as far Gohan was concerned it was his only option. It was just annoying that it took him in such a roundabout path. Videl was right; it would have been much easier to go through them.

After sliding under the last robots arm, he stood up slowly with a smile. He had managed to flank the entire robot army without them landing one hit. His father had told him once about a fight where Master Roshi had utilized the same strategy against Yamcha in the World Tournament, and he thought he might have done Roshi proud with that display.

"Gohan, what are you doing?" The other teenage crime fighter's voice cut straight through Gohan's focus as his stomach dropped. He looked over and saw her standing a couple feet across from him, directly in front of the principal's office with a hand on the door knob.

"Um, H- how long have you been standing there?"

"A couple minutes. It's locked. I could have kicked it in but watching you was a little more interesting." Gohan gulped, but Videl wasn't finished. "You want to tell me what that was?"

"A few lucky accidents?"

"I hope you don't think I'm going to believe that excuse."

Gohan flashed a smile and attempted to open the door himself, eager to end the conversation and the whole god-forsaken drill. When he couldn't turn the knob, he gripped the metal slightly harder and applied enough force to break the lock. Once the door was open, he slipped in the room without waiting for Videl to respond to his obvious feat of strength.

Principal Berry's office was dark and looked untouched by any of the chaos that had consumed the rest of the school. His chair didn't look occupied, but it was facing away from the door. On the middle of his desk, Gohan could see a bright red button encased in glass.

Gohan flipped on the lights as Videl walked in and slammed the broken door behind her, everything about her exuding anger directed at him.

"Oh don't think we're not going to talk about _that,_ Gohan!"

Gohan's blood ran cold; he was effectively cornered in this office with a hundred robots outside the door. Videl basically had him trapped in here. Before he could even fathom of an excuse that might explain half of what Videl saw, he heard an extremely familiar voice.

"Hi Gohan!"

As the chair swiveled around and the architect of all of his pain made himself known, Gohan had a chorus of denial running through his head. No no no, it couldn't be possible.

Son Goten sat in the chair looking as pleased as can be. Gohan, on the other hand felt like he was the butt of an extremely cruel cosmic joke.

"Wait, who is this?" Videl said at the same time as Gohan eyes widened in disbelief.

" _Goten?!_ " He shook his head in disbelief. "When Bulma said she chose someone else, I expected someone else from Capsule Corp. not—" He paused, the realization dawning on him. " _Trunks._ Where _is_ he?"

"Outside," Goten replied cheerily, indicating behind him to the back windows. "But Gohan that's-"

Without waiting for Goten to finish his thought, Gohan rushed to the windows and scanned the school grounds. Seeing Trunks's familiar mop of purple hair struck fury into his soul.

On the other side of the room, he heard Videl's voice. "What do you think you're going to do, Gohan? We're on the fourth floor."

What _was_ he going to do? Gohan was torn between destroying the glass and throttling Trunks or doing something more reasonable like opening the window _before_ jumping out of it. He decided to compromise by wrenching the window up without bothering to check if it was locked and breaking the latch.

As he pulled himself face-first out the window, he could hear the sound of Videl rapidly crossing the room.

"Gohan, _wait!_ "

In the air Gohan rotated his body so he could land on his feet, giving himself a little cushion with his ki. He winced a little imagining his next conversation with Videl, _that_ wouldn't be pretty.

"So you finally made it," said a familiar voice. The _wrong_ familiar voice.

Realizing his mistake, Gohan covered his face. "Mirai, please tell me that you're the mastermind. I know you're not, but please just lie to me."

"Nope. You got the right guy, wrong timeline. I can tell you where the mini-me is, though, if we fight. Right here, right now."

"Trunks," Gohan said, exasperated.

"Call me Mirai."

"Fine, _Mirai._ I'm not going to fight you."

"Heh, it's funny you think I'm giving you a choice." Gohan's eyes widened as Mirai suddenly moved. Before he could blink, Mirai was in front of him throwing a punch that was aimed for his face.

"What are you-?" was all Gohan could get out before he had to duck under the attack. He then rolled his body to the side to create more separation between himself and his "friend". As soon as he was back on his feet, Mirai was on him again.

This time it was more of a full-bodied assault as Mirai launched three consecutive punches aimed for different parts of Gohan's body. Gohan dodged the first two, but didn't see the third one in time and braced himself for the impending hit.

He went crashing into the grass, and lay there dazed.

"You're going to have to fight back, Gohan!" Mirai called. "Especially if you want to find Trunks!"

Gohan lay back and looked up at the sky. "I liked him more when he was a brooding teenager trying to save the future," Gohan murmured to himself. He pushed himself to his feet and prepared for another barrage.

Mirai materialized right behind Gohan half a second later, attempting to sweep Gohan's legs. Gohan jumped to avoid the attack and somersaulted away, neatly landing on his feet, but Mirai was right behind him. They continued playing a cat-and-mouse game where Mirai would launch an attack that Gohan dodged and tried to create as much space as possible between them.

However, Gohan wasn't in the practice of fighting foes as strong nor especially as fast as Mirai and was slammed into the ground more often than he would like by the force of Mirai's attacks. With each hit that landed, Gohan struggled to remember why he had decided to not fight back.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Trunks attacking his left side. There wasn't enough time to dodge it-

"Enough!" Gohan yelled and ignited his ki around him. He caught Mirai's outstretched arm and, before Mirai could react, kicked him away.

He moved to get to the exact spot where Mirai's momentum would take his body in order follow up the initial kick, poising himself for a punch that would hopefully make Trunks think twice about his role in this subterfuge.

" _Hold up."_

Videl's voice cut through the haze that had grown in Gohan's mind and blocked everything else out, and he snapped back to his senses. Looking over to peer at Videl unfortunately made him take his eyes off of Mirai's body and he crashed into Gohan in a heap. When Gohan opened his eyes, Videl was looking down at him with a glare that could bore holes into him. He couldn't handle the heat of her gaze, so instead he looked away and found Goten who was squirming in Videl's iron grip.

"Gohan, tell this stranger to let me go," Goten appealed. "She grabbed me when I tried to follow you out the window!"

"First of all," Videl replied, leveling her glare at Goten. "Children should not be _jumping out of windows!_ Nor should anyone else, _Gohan_!" Gohan winced.

He pulled himself to his feet for what he hoped was the last time that day. He didn't _really_ mind that, in the act of pushing himself up, he had pushed Mirai further into the ground.

"Um, Videl, this is my brother Goten. Goten, meet Videl. You can let him go now."

Videl frowned and took one more look at Goten, probably trying to decide if she believed Gohan or not, and then let go of his brother's shoulder. As soon as Videl let Goten go, he turned as if to bolt off. Sensing that would be his next move, Gohan got in his way.

"So you're going to tell me where Trunks _actually_ is, _now._ "

"Gohan, we're not done here," A certain teenaged crime-fighter said at the same time as Mirai said, "We're not finished, Gohan!"

Gohan ignored them both and tried to channel his mother's famous disappointed expression to force Goten to talk.

"But Gohan! I tried to tell you that Mirai was the one who was outside!"

"Yeah well, I know that now. Where is _Trunks_ , Goten?"

"He's in the principal's office, he was hiding in the closet-" Gohan half turned in the direction of the school building, and he was about to fly over when he felt someone grab his arm.

"Where do you think you're going? Our spar isn't over. You only just decided to fight back." Mirai's grip noticeably tightened and Gohan's urge to punch him in the face increased as well. Before he could, however, someone grabbed his other arm and pulled his attention.

"Now you listen here and you listen well, Gohan. I have just about had it with you refusing to answer _every single one of my questions today!_ At least before you had the decency to lie! Unconvincingly, I might add."

"Uh, Videl, I'm a little busy." He flicked his eyes over to Mirai, and Videl followed his gaze.

"Hey you!" She yelled at the purple-haired stranger. "Back off! I don't even know who you _think_ you are, but you can't just come to our school and pick fights with people."

"I don't know who _you_ think you are but Gohan and I have some unfinished business, if you couldn't tell before!"

Videl's eyes widened. "Wait! You fought in the Cell Games! Aren't you a little _old_ to be at a high school anyway?" She said accusatorially.

"Well, I don't have to be this old to know that your pigtails were out of style _before the Cell Games even started_!"

" _What_ _did you just say_?!"

Gohan, who was worried about hurting Videl by breaking out of her hold and was unsure whether he could escape from Mirai's, decided to stand still as they fought over who got to beat him up next. Maybe they would get distracted with each other, so he could sneak off to find (and maybe maim) Trunks.

"Hahahaha!"

Speak of the devil.

A voice that was unmistakably Trunks's sans distortion echoed from the school's PA system. "It is I, Tundra! You're all too late! Especially you, Gohan!"

Hearing Trunks's voice made his blood boil and apparently shocked both Mirai and Videl enough that he broke out of their grip easily. As he raced back towards Principal Berry's office, the announcement continued. "I've deactivated my robot minions and, as my final plan for the destruction of Orange Star High School, I have hidden a series of bombs throughout the school. They're all programmed to detonate in the next ten minutes. Once this school is destroyed, my victory will be assured!"

Gohan's heart hammered as he heard those words. Surely Bulma hadn't provided Trunks with working bombs as part of the exercise? As he got closer to the school building, he could see Trunks's back from the window. He approached the office and, just as he was about to fly through the window, he was knocked out of the sky unceremoniously by Mirai.

"Mirai!" Gohan yelled angrily. This was getting old _so_ fast. "Did you not just hear that announcement?"

"Oh come on, Gohan. There's no way Mom gave my little mini-me actual bombs."

"Do you know that for a _fact_? This is the same woman that shot my Dad within 10 seconds of meeting him. She has a tendency to go overboard."

By this time, Goten and Videl had made their way over. Videl was too shocked by the flying to say anything, but Mirai turned to him. "Goten, Bulma didn't give you and Trunks real bombs did she?"

"I dunno, Mr. Mirai, they looked pretty real to me. They were small and metallic and had wires sticking out of them with a digital timer and everything." That was all the verification Gohan needed to confront Trunks.

He flew back in the broken window just as Trunks put down the microphone.

"I'm shutting this whole operation down, _now,_ " he said to the grinning child in front of him.

Trunks dropped the grin and immediately pouted. "But Gohan, you can't end it now. The bombs are going to go off soon!"

"Trunks, I thought the goal of the day was to conquer the school, not _destroy it!_ "

"Well, I figured if _you_ went at full speed, you could definitely find them all in five minutes. So, I gave you twice as much time as you needed. Plus, everyone gets to feel the suspense." Trunks looked way too proud of himself.

"Trunks, this is _not okay._ These are innocent people's lives we're talking about. People could get hurt."

Gohan had basically spent all day getting Videl's glare leveled on him, so he tried to use her technique in a stare to get Trunks to see the error of his ways. Trunks scrunched his nose up and frowned under the scrutiny.

"Fine, none of the bombs I placed are real."

"Goten said they looked real."

"That's because the ones I showed him were real. I was trying to impress him with my master plan. So, no one is in any real danger. Unless–" Trunks paled and went silent.

That wasn't good.

"Unless _what_ , Trunks?"

"Goten may or may not have helped me by placing one or two of the bombs, and I don't know which ones he grabbed."

Already guessing the answer to that question was going to be the one he didn't want to hear, Gohan said, "You better pray it was one of the fake ones or I _will_ tell Bulma and she will _never_ let you see the light of day again until you are older than Mirai is now." Trunks gulped visibly.

Goten was on the ground standing next to Videl who still looked like she was struggling to form complete thoughts.

"Goten!" Gohan yelled out the window. "Where did you get the bombs you placed in the school?"

"From the box Trunks showed me!" Goten yelled back, and Gohan's stomach dropped.

"Do you remember where you put them?" Gohan asked, hopeful.

"Um, not really. Your school has so many hallways. Everything looks the same!"

Turning Super Saiyan immediately, Gohan looked at Trunks and said, "If I come back and you're still here, _you're dead_. It'd probably be best to start running, _now._ "

"Yes'sir." Trunks said and jumped out the window.

Gohan didn't wait to see what Trunks would do next, but locked eyes with Mirai instead. At his stony expression, Mirai also turned Super Saiyan, scooped up Videl from the ground and entered through the window.

Once she was inside, Videl finally broke out of her stupor and yelled, "Gohan! You're the gold fighter?!"

Not feeling up to lying anymore and much more concerned with the actual threat, Gohan found himself saying, "Yeah, Videl, guess you found out. But that's not important right now."

"What's wrong?" Mirai asked.

"We have one maybe two real bombs hidden somewhere in the school. The rest are fakes. Small, metallic, wires sticking out and with a digital countdown. We'll be faster if we start on opposite ends of the school, and we have about-" Gohan went to look at his watch and remembered it was currently in pieces on the floor of some classroom. He was going to _murder_ Trunks. "Well probably somewhere between 3 and 4 minutes to find it."

Videl rubbed her face. "That's impossible. Going full speed, we'd probably get through the whole school in an hour _at the minimum_."

"Videl," Gohan said, the calmness of his tone very different from the sheer panic that he felt. "I don't know if you noticed, but we're really fast. We can do this, but we're going to need your help. Pull the fire alarm, yell through the halls, maybe don't use the PA system but we need everyone to evacuate, just in case."

Before she could even start to reply, likely with a complaint in not being involved in the action, Gohan and Trunks were gone.

Gohan's thoughts ran wild as he raced through hallways of robots and students. He was surprised there were so many students milling around and had hoped they would have been frightened enough about the bomb announcement that they might have evacuated themselves. He figured he was moving fast enough that people couldn't recognize him, he would probably look like a gold blur to most. Once he got to the end of the school, he dimly registered that the fire alarm was going off.

 _Thanks Videl,_ he thought as he went into individual classrooms and tore them apart looking for a bomb. He checked desks, closets, backpacks, whatever he could get his hands on. He found a bunch of the fake bombs that were nondescript and looked like an exaggeration of a bomb with "sticks of dynamite" connected to a ticking analog clock.

As he found more fake bombs, he realized they were getting closer and closer to zero which meant that they were all synced. Meaning the real ones were likely on the same schedule. Gohan started sweating profusely as the last minute mark approached. He hoped Mirai was having better luck than him.

As he approached one of the last hallways on his side of the school, he nearly ran into Videl who was looking down at something clutched in her hand.

"You found it?" He gasped.

"Think so. She said, her eyes still on the countdown. Now what do we do with it?"

"15 seconds. Give it to me." Gohan extended a hand.

"What are you talking about? This is a bomb, what are you going to do? Take the explosion yourself as a shield?"

"10 seconds, Videl. Give it to me!"

"If anyone's sacrificing themselves, it's going to be me!"

Gohan was sick of trying to reason with her and grabbed it faster than she could react. He ignored Videl's sound of protest and ran outside as fast as he could. He burst out the doors with three seconds on the clock and threw the bomb up as far as he could. It exploded at least a thousand feet above and Gohan sighed in pure relief, dropping his Super Saiyan state. He was so out of it that he barely registered Trunks landing softly next to him.

"I'm assuming you got the other one?"

"Yup, pretty quickly too. Your brother isn't great at hiding things. I had time to diffuse it and kept looking afterward."

"Well, thanks for helping. Even though you actually were their enabler."

Trunks put on a sheepish expression. "Well, you win some you lose some. No one got too hurt, and it was worth it to fight with you, even though you spent most of it dodging. I was worried I wouldn't get the opportunity to do that after you brushed me off this morning. Truthfully, Vegeta gave me the idea and thought it would be the best way to get a fight out of you."

Gohan smiled up at the sky, thinking about the practical joke that the gods had just played on him. "I should have known that this was all somehow Vegeta's fault."

"Also, what's up with that girl? Are you two dating?"

"Wh- what?" Gohan spluttered, completely caught off guard. "D- Dating and Videl?! She _hates_ me!"

"Actually no, Gohan. She hates _me_. You two have a weird chemistry. You might want to figure that out."

"No way! It's Gohan! Sharpener, look! It's Gohan!" Gohan peered around Mirai to see Erasa and Sharpener heading his direction. He looked down at himself and his clothes which looked absolutely wrecked.

"Oh, hey, Erasa and Sharpener," Gohan greeted, placing an arm behind his head. "You guys doing okay?"

"We should be the ones asking _you_ that!" Erasa replied. "Videl ran outside the principal's office with some kid! Five minutes later she was running through the hallways yelling at everyone to evacuate because those bombs that the Tundra guy mentioned were real! I ran into Sharpener on the way out, but I couldn't find you or Videl!"

"Oh uh yeah. I guess I somehow ended up on the other side of the school when I evacuated." Mirai rolled his eyes at Gohan's response and Erasa finally seemed to notice he was with someone.

"And who is your _friend,_ Gohan? He definitely doesn't go here." She moved away from Sharpener to stand in front of Mirai and gave him an appraising look.

"Um, you can call me Mirai. Gohan and I go way back. And I guess you're Erasa? One of Gohan's friends?" Mirai raised a hand for her to shake.

Erasa ignored it and gave him a hug instead. "Any friend of Gohan's is a friend of mine! I think we're gonna' get along quite well, Mirai." Gohan laughed at the red that was visible in Mirai's cheeks and at the expression that found its way on Sharpener's face. Erasa and Mirai started chatting and Gohan separated himself from them and looked back at the school.

The day had really done a number on the whole campus. A few of the windows were broken and he could see the robot carnage through every single one. A pile of deactivated robots were on either side of the school's exit doors.

Of course that was exactly when Videl walked out the doors and immediately locked eyes with him.

Realizing there was no way to escape, he stared her down as she approached. Mirai's words echoed in his head and he allowed himself to take in her full appearance. She looked just as ragged as he did with scratches all over, dirt and oil from the robots smeared on her face. Even with the stormy expression that betrayed the anger he knew was directed at him, he had to admit it to himself; she was beautiful.

He braced himself for an unpleasant conversation and hoped it wouldn't start with loud accusations that the whole school could overhear.

"Gohan," she said, her face morphing into a different expression. This one was practically unreadable.

"Yes, Videl?" He squeezed one eye shut in anticipation for the coming tirade.

"Good job today."

"Sorry for lying to you I- what?" Gohan responded, thoroughly confused.

"I realized I didn't say anything to you during the exercise. There's no way Erasa and I could have ended it without you in our group. So, good job today."

"Um, I'm still- what?"

"Gohan, it's a compliment. Just take the compliment."

"Okay, sure. Glad I- Glad I could bring something to the team, I guess." Gohan was at a loss of words.

"So you're the Gold Fighter _and_ Great Saiyaman, right?" Gohan paled. He opened his mouth to offer up an excuse, but none came to mind. "Yeah, you don't have to answer that one. I know." Videl raised a hand to pat him on the shoulder and left it there. "Poor Gohan, you thought you could keep that from me after today?" She smiled up at him predatorily.

"I -uh, it's just. I-" Gohan tried to string words together coherently, but it wasn't happening.

"It's fine. I'll let you off the hook this once." Videl moved her hand from his shoulder to grab a fistful of his shirt and pull his head to eye-level with her. "But if you _ever_ lie to me again, I will instill so much fear in your heart that you'll be wishing Cell had been resurrected instead."

"Uh, yes Videl," he said when she released him. She walked off to reconvene with Erasa and Sharpener and throw a glare in Mirai's direction. Gohan waited until his heart rate calmed down before following after her. What the _hell_ he had gotten himself into?

* * *

 **A/N:** Hope you all enjoyed reading! Please leave reviews! I just realized that the first chapter lost some of the formatting, but oh well...something to maybe fix in the future. For now this story is finished, but if I ever get inspired it might get a short little addendum.


End file.
